India stands tough at Doha talks

Doha, Dec. 4 -- An attempt by rich nations to side-track concerns of developing countries on how to combat climate change in long term was stonewalled by India, China and African countries, which lodged their protest with the host of global climate conference- Qatar. A UN ad-hoc working group had come out with a proposal to close negotiations on long-term cooperative action (LCA) on climate change without considering the concerns raised by the developing nations on finance, intellectual property rights, unilateral climate measures and equity.

"The proposal is not acceptable to G-77 plus China. Representatives of 10 countries met the conference president (Qatar) to lodge a protest," said a senior Indian negotiator.

The issues flagged are important for India as it wants clean technology without intellectual property rights, a firm commitment from the developed world to upscale its financial obligation to meet the promised US $100bn by 2020 and prevent rich countries from imposing unilateral measures such as carbon tax on aviation and maritime services on the developing nations.

"We are not building new homes where they are not required," said chief climate negotiator of the US Ted Stern, in a reaction to the concerns raised by the developing nations. "Most of their issues have been addressed in the Durban Platform."

Stating negotiations under the LCA track has to end, EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard said the developed world has kept its promise of giving US $30bn under the fast-track finance and would meet its commitment to give US $100bn by 2020.